1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to dental appliances, and more particularly to apparatus for massaging areas of a user's gums located between the user's teeth.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The desirability of massaging ones gums has long been known. U.S. Pat. No. 1,086,936, issued Feb. 10, 1914, to M. Pounder, et al, discloses a dental massage implement having a generally conoidal massaging head rotatably mounted on one end of a manipulating handle. This known massaging head is generally formed from a resilient material such as a soft rubber, and advantageously is provided with longitudinally extending ribs arranged for producing a desired vibratory effect. A basic disadvantage with this prior device is that a conoidal configuration does not properly fit the outer surfaces of gums being massaged.
Another known gum massager device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,091,511, issued on Aug. 31, 1937, to B. London. This known device employs a pair of massager tips fabricated from rubber and disposed at respective free ends of similar spring arms projecting from a common handle. The massager tips each are in the configuration of a conventional door knob, and the like, and once again do not readily conform to the surface of gums being massaged.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,533,528, issued Apr. 14, 1925, to J. A. Weaver, and U.S. Pat. No. 2,074,735, issued Mar. 23, 1937, to J. Puttcamp, disclose devices intended to be used for massaging ones back and ones face, respectively. The latter is of a conoidal configuration as discussed above, while the former employs a symmetrical, grooved roller, the hyperboloid configuration of this roller, while more suitable for gum massaging than the aforementioned conoidal configuration, still is not optimumly suited for gum massaging applications.
In addition to massaging the outer and inner surfaces of ones gums, it is desirable to massage the areas of gums disposed between ones teeth and the above described prior art structures do not make provisions for such massaging. Although it is known to provide flexible toothpicks, as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 516,409, issued on Mar. 13, 1894, to C. C. Southwell, such appliances are suitble only for their intended use, that of cleaning between adjacent teeth, and do not provide the requisite vibratory, or swivel-like, action desired for gum massaging operations. Further, U.S. Pat. No. 710,498 issued Oct. 7, 1902, to D. McClain, discloses a toothpick having a rigid point set at a right angle to the shank thereof, which arrangement is also capable only of cleaning between adjacent teeth and not massaging the associated gum area. The same can be said for the toothpick disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,654,230, issued Dec. 27, 1927, to H. Zimmerman, and to the rigid hook forming the rear end of a handle of a toothbrush as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 1,784,986, issued Dec. 16, 1930 to S. Eisenberg.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,205,664, issued June 3, 1980 to M. O. Baccialon, discloses a tooth and gum massaging implement having a pair of rigid massaging elements of different configurations extending from opposed ends of a longitudinally extending handle portion. Once again, however, the massaging elements are rigidly attached to the associated handle, making it impossible to obtain a desired vibratory swivel-like, action against gums being massaged.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,147, issued Oct. 23, 1976 to C. M. Ricketts, et al, discloses a dental implement for removing stains from teeth in which a pick and hole are rigidly disposed on one end of a longitudinally extending handle, at the other longitudinal end of which is provided a disc. As with the devices described above, this appliance is intended only for cleaning teeth, and is not capable of achieving a vibratory swivel-like action desired for massaging gums.